Customs Misses Deadline for New Rules
The government has delayed issuing new customs regulations for shipping cargo by train, planes and trucks. The rules were supposed to have been issued by Oct. 1.
The U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) missed that deadline and did not name a new date for publishing the rules.
Tentatively, the rules say that air-cargo manifests must be electronically filed with customs four hours before the cargo arrives in the United States. Truck carriers must forward information 30 minutes to one hour before reaching the border.
“The final rule is in the review process within the administration,” noted Paula Keicer, a CBP spokeswoman. “The rule will be published as soon as that review is complete. We do not have an exact date, but we do hope to be well in advance of year’s end.”
Part of the delay was due to the 30-day comment period built into the process of establishing the rules. The government has to answer all the comments it received and prepare an economic analysis of the regulations.
The new proposals are similar to the ocean-cargo regulations that went into effect on Feb. 2. Those rules require ocean carriers to report cargo data to U.S. Customs 24 hours before leaving a foreign port. —Deborah Belgum
